In alarm systems employed to sense intrusion, fire or other condition, techniques are known for the determination at a central location of the remote zone in which an alarm has occurred. In such systems, a communications path is established between each remote alarm sensor and a central location, the communication path being provided by means of a separate communications line from the central location to each remote station, or by use of a common communications line and multiplexed signaling techniques, such as time division multiplexing or frequency division multiplexing.
It is advantageous to employ a two-wire communications path forming a single alarm loop in which all alarm sensors are connected. Such a single loop can minimize the amount of wiring necessary to interconnect the central location with the remote sensors and can provide relatively simple and efficient connection of the remote sensors with the central location. It is usually required in an alarm system to provide the capability of identifying each sensor or each zone in which an alarm has occurred. Thus, a communication technique must be employed which is capable of identifying each sensor or each zone that senses an alarm condition.